Arum Est Postas
by Myshi corp
Summary: Artemis has changed back into the monster he was at ten, and is now trying to destroy Haven. It is up to Holly, Foaly, and Trouble to avert the disaster and protect the people. Along the way, Holly unveils a secret that her parents took to their graves. Post TLG, H/T, constructive criticism welcome! Rating for kissing (scandalous, I know!) and awesome (violent) fight scenes.


Chapter 1: Wake Up Call

Artemis was trying to kill them.

The thought hit Holly like a tidal wave, obliterating everything she thought she knew about her human friend.

 _No. Artemis wouldn't do that. He just... no!_ A part of her was stubbornly refusing the evidence, even though she knew that if Artemis wanted to kill her, he could. _But... still!_

Foaly looked at her, concerned. He could see the emotions racing across her face, trying to sort themselves out and ending up in a hopeless jumble. She was staring at the floor, picking at her clothes.

"Holly, I know you don't want to accept it. I don't either. But there is simply no other possible explanation."

Holly looked up at him sharply, broken out of her trance.

"No other possible explanation?" she echoed. "It could be..." Holly hesitated, thinking.

"Koboi?" Holly reluctantly said.

"Dead." Foaly responded, face flat.

"Turnball?"

"Dead."

"Spiro?" She was frantically grasping at straws, trying to find a way to disprove Artemis' guilt.

"In jail. And with no memory of the people."

Holly sighed, frustrated.

"Kong? He knows about the people."

"Mind-wiped 10 years ago. No sign of recall since then." Foaly paused.

"I'm... sorry, Holly.

They were sitting in the Ops booth, Foaly in his customized swivel chair; Holly perched upon the workspace counter, next to huge balls of wires and sheets of metal. Both of them were deep in thought, Foaly grappling with a way to use his gadgets to solve the mystery and Holly casting her mind back to what had happened earlier.

 **Holly's** **Apartment, three hours ago**

She had been sitting at the kitchen table, running her hands through her frizzy hair. A pile of E-forms were stacked haphazardly before her, and she was absentmindedly twirling a digi-pen in her slim fingers

 _I should really sleep. It's 1 o'clock on the surface, and even the hardiest fairies can't function on zero sleep._

The pen clattered to the ground, and she bent to pick it up.

 _I'll just_ _take five more minutes. Then I'll sleep._

Grabbing the top form, she glanced it over, then deleted it. It was one of Grub's. Truly his reserve of complaints were endless. She had learned long ago that it was futile trying to address them all. This time, he was complaining about the floor of his office. Apparently he had tripped on a bump and stubbed his toe. She snorted.

"Call an ambulance. Grub Kelp stubbed his toe." The sarcasm in her tone was blatantly obvious.

She completed a few more forms, occasionally muttering sarcastic comments.

"Some gnome wants to be reimbursed for the damage to his estate during the Great Techno Crash. Yeah, 'cause a super-villain's plot to take over the world is definitely the LEP's fault!"

"How many times a day does Grub stub his toe?!"

"Honestly. They should include law degrees as a requirement for anyone who wants to touch this one."

Eventually she gave up on the last form, deciding to ask Trouble about it tomorrow.

Setting it down and flopping onto her bed, she closed her eyes, not caring that she was still dressed in her uniform. She was slipping into dreamland when she heard a scratching noise by her entryway. She could have sworn it sounded like an omnitool working on the inside of a lock.

 _Nah_. she decided. She was just being paranoid. Maybe Foaly was rubbing off on her. Snuggling back under the covers, she closed her eyes again.

But then... there! The sound of footfalls! So faint she could hardly hear them, but they were there. Someone was in her house. Holly slipped her hand underneath her pillow, clutching the grip of her Neutrino 2000. Then she silently escaped from her covers and took a position hiding behind the dresser near the door.

 _Just in case_ , she thought.

A figure in black appeared in the doorway, cautiously approaching the bed. In the dark, the mussed covers gave the appearance of a body, which the stranger pointed it's gun at. Holly looked at the gun, frowning quizzically. It was a human make, but the thing that puzzled her more was the fact that the barrel appeared to be... shaking.

 _Is it scared?_ The thought of a person coming to kill her being scared to pull the trigger was odd, to say the least.

There was an explosion of noise in the small space as the figure emptied shot after shot into the covers. When the noise finally stopped, it reached out a hand to pull back the comforter and make sure she was dead. It was that moment Holly spoke.

"Missed me!" she taunted.

The figure turned and started to bring it's gun up. Holly popped of a single shot, and the figure crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

She lowered her barrel, questions racing through her head. Stepping across the room, she examined the would be assassin. It was a young male elf, with a gun and a few knives in his belt.

 _I ought to call the LEP_ _night shift jocks and have_ _them take him to Police Plaza._ she thought as she crossed into the adjoining room, the kitchen. She reached for the phone, then stopped short. The phone was gone.

 _I could have sworn I put it there_ _before I went to bed! Honestly._ Her gaze swept the dark countertops, but there was nothing.

"Looking for this?" a voice asked leeringly.

Holly spun around to the doorway, seeing another figure. Her Neutrino leaped out of it's holster and she was about to shoot, when the lights came on and she was blinded.

She felt the bullets enter her chest, and saw herself fall to the ground, but she had no control over her actions. The would-be assassin...no. He had succeeded. She knew that she was dying, from the feeling of the blood pouring from her chest. Her magic was gone. The assassin...stood over her, examining the phone and then tossing it aside.

 _I wish I could have said goodbye to Trouble._ she thought, her breath coming in spurts. Then:

 _Trouble! If I warn him, he could heal me. What's something he could hear from the_ _3rd floor?_ It came to her after a few seconds. The fire alarm! She could set it off.

Summoning every inch of strength inside her, she hefted her Neutrino, pointed it at the smoke alarm, then fired it. Her shot burnt a hole in the ceiling, sending off smoke.

"Missed me" the assassin taunted, saying the exact same thing that she had said to his accomplice. The irony of this was not lost on her.

 _Funny the things you think while you're bleeding to death._ Apparently her sense of sarcasm hadn't deserted her yet.

A stream of water exploded from the sprinkler head seconds later, dousing her and the figure instantly. A stream of cussing and the fire alarm screamed incessantly in her ears, while her eyes began to slip closed.

 _No. This cannot be the end!_ her iron resolve shouted, but it had no control over her treacherous eyes. The last thing she saw was the door shattering into infinitesimal pieces, and a thoroughly wet Trouble Kelp busting into her apartment, brandishing his gun. A bolt of energy hit the assassin in the chest, and, skidding to his knees on the wet tile, Trouble reached her and sent bolt after bolt of magic into her chest. Then her view faded in a maelstrom of blue sparks.

 **The Ops Booth, present**

As she came back to the present, she glanced at Foaly. He was disheveled, his clothes rumpled and a few pastel curlers in his mane; aftermath of the midnight alert.

Holly unconsciously reached over and plucked a green curler out, before tossing it over her shoulder. It landed in a nearby recycler, not even touching the sides.

 _Artemis wouldn't try to kill someone. Would he?_ Holly mused. She knew Foaly's gadgetry said Artemis hired the assassins, but he could be wrong.

 _He especially wouldn't_ _target me, not after I saved_ _his_ _entire family multiple times and brought him back to life. And If he...did... want to kill me, why assassination?_

Foaly had long ago given up on using his inventions, and was thinking along the same lines as Holly.

 _There are plenty of successful ways Artemis could have killed Holly: Spiking a drink, setting off a bio bomb, or hacking into her helmet and setting off the self destruct while she was_ _wearing it. He could even have made it a bit easier for the B'wa Kell to kill her, and have them do his dirty work for him. They had wanted to get their scaly hands on her for months. All of these ideas are pretty foolproof. Even Holly can't survive with a liquified head. Why didn't Fowl, the genius, see that?_

Foaly had decided to call him Fowl for the time being. He couldn't refer to someone on a first name basis when they were suspected of trying to kill your best friend.

Holly plucked out another curler, throwing it in the recycler without looking back.

 _Artemis acted just fine when I last visited. Was he mad at me, but hiding it? Why would he have to kill me?_

Another curler flew over her shoulder.

 _Maybe he's possessed? Or still in the grips of the Atlantis Complex, but hiding it? An alter-ego did this, not Arty._ She hurriedly corrected herself. _Artemis_

The curlers catapulted from her hand, each one landing with a plinking sound.

"Plink"

Holly's mind was a thousand miles away.

"Plink"

It was a rather nice sound, similar to the sound of water on a tin roof.

"Plink"

"Plink"

"D'ARVIT!"

She and Foaly jumped, then turned to see Trouble Kelp, Holly's commander and fiancé, holding a pink curler. He had a quizzical frown on his face.

"Foaly's." she explained flatly.

"Oh." They looked at each other for a few seconds, then he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her. He looked into her eyes, brushing her hair back from her face.

"Holly, are you alright?"

"Yeah" came the reply.

"Good."

He kissed her gently on the forehead, then released her, giving her hand one last squeeze. Then he looked across the Ops booth, directing his question at Foaly.

"What's the status report Foaly? Any amazing ideas?" Trouble was back in boss mode, his gentle side hidden. He would be fired if he showed any degree of favoritism towards his bride-to-be.

"Nope, Commander." said Foaly, recognizing that he was had to act like a professional now. "Other than the Retinamem evidence, we have nothing. Fowl has completely disappeared. It seems that he sent Butler on vacation with the rest of his family, on the prentice that he wasn't feeling well and needed to rest for a few days. He isn't inside Fowl manor, that much I know, but I have no idea where he is."

The Retinamem was one of Foaly's genius inventions. It accessed memories from a subject and played them like a movie. In this way they were able to get footage of the assassins being hired by Artemis.

"What about the apartment in the Retinamem video? Couldn't you find out where that is?" Holly suggested.

Trouble nodded.

"We tried that, but the apartment had a bomb hidden in it, and it detonated right as our men got in the door. It gave everyone one hell of a fright. No fatalities,but all of the possible clues are obliterated. The neighbors are threatening to sue." he added wryly.

"Oh gods." said Holly "That's the last thing we need right now, more forms. I mean, I can deal with assassins, but _forms_?"

Trouble laughed, fully understanding her plight. Foaly smugly grinned, glad that he was exempt from the paperwork.

"Oh yeah, those blasted forms. I hate 'em" inserted Foaly.

Holly nodded in agreement, then realized something.

"Hey! You're the chief technical officer. You don't get any forms!"

Foaly grinned.

"That's the thing: I do, but I provide them a one way ride into your inbox."

Holly hit him over the head with a carrot.

 **First fan fiction! I hope you guys like it. Feel free to make my day by posting a comment, and claim the title of my first commenter. I would love it if people would point out things I need to work on, such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, typos, and plot holes or confusing parts. The list goes on and on. This fic needs your help to become the best it can be!**

 **I will try to update soon, so be on the lookout. In the next chapter, we have our first fatality (oh, goody!) and a lot more T/H. The chapter will be cranked out faster if I have more reviews, so REVIEW!**

 **Almost forgot: Somewhere, under a grey sky, there is a girl who is not Eoin Colfer. She cannot claim to own Artemis Fowl, though deep in her heart, it is her most fervent desire. That girl, for those of you that cannot infer, is me.**


End file.
